Clarissa had been cleared. She’d claimed that in the haze of the phase-fire that day, she’d been concerned only about Dade, her fiancé. It was enough of a logical truth that the govies couldn’t charge her without more proof of collusion. And since her questioning had been so public and she was a Solizen with family power behind her, they couldn’t hold her somewhere like the CRC. It hadn’t made the suspicion go away, however. Wherever she went, all eyes were on her: those of the Solizen, the govies, bystanders in the street.
He felt guilty. She’d ruined her reputation because she’d helped him. Dade worried what it would cost her over the years. Her own people might turn against her. He wanted to see for himself that she was okay, even though Clarissa was more than capable of landing on her feet. If anything, today was a chance for a sincere apology. He never should have gotten her mixed up in the Ghost stuff in the first place.
However, even though he felt remorse, it didn’t change the fact that he was still making choices that would affect other people. Arden would be pissed when she found out he met with Clarissa. He’d not even told Mina that he was doing this for her plan, afraid that it wouldn’t work out. She wanted into Sky Tower Two, his former home, and he no longer had access to it.
There were personal reasons as well. He wanted to talk to Clarissa about helping him get new Ghost gear. The only way to repair the damage he’d done was by taking a stand. This was the only way he knew how.
Twitters of gossip rose loud enough that Dade raised his head to follow the murmurs that moved from one table to another. They spread like a blanket rippling out. Small punctuated whispers that became excited gasps. He couldn’t hear what they said, yet he straightened, knowing only Clarissa would attract that much attention.
She walked through the tables of moonglass like a queen. Her steps were affected with such grace that it looked as if she floated on her four-inch heels. Her back was straight, and she held her head high. She wore a white dress that dipped across her body and swept the ground, appearing both regal and lush. Clarissa did not seem like someone who’d endured interrogation for weeks.
Though the guests gossiped, a wall of silence surrounded Clarissa as the waiter pulled out her chair. But they stared. Eyes wide and mouths half-parted.
She sat with a graceful dip into the seat.
Moons, he’d missed her. Dade couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face. For a moment, he remembered the person he had been, when they’d had an easy friendship. When everything was easy, and she’d teased him about taking some risks.
They’d seated her at a table in the center of the open café. This was a place to be seen. She’d come here with a purpose. He had no doubt that she’d asked for that table. It was Clarissa’s way of letting the city know that she wouldn’t be cowed by rumor and innuendo.
The visicasts repeatedly played commentary that she was devastated by her fiancé’s death—by Dade’s death. She looked the part: serene, confident, a little sad, but fully a Solizen who would take no crap. Jewels encased her ears and throat. She wore her hair in a high faux hawk—her usual style when she wanted to give a public middle finger to the govies by appearing both vicious and refined. Blush had been applied in streaks to her cheekbones, giving her color. Her lips were painted red, outlined like a doll. And her lashes were dark lined to set off the amber of her almond-shaped eyes.
To be fair, he realized that she was mourning his death. He was the idiot who had forgotten to tell her that he’d survived. It added to his nervousness about approaching her.
Dade waited until the waiter left the table before he stood and entered the café. He weaved his way through the tables. Glad that they were still too focused on her to pay him any attention. That would change as soon as he sat down. The mysteriousness of Clarissa’s table companion would stir up the gossip all over again. But that couldn’t be helped.
He kept the hood of his cloak pulled low over his face even though he wore the synth-mask. His hair hung loose to further obscure his masked features in case a pap-drone cam was pointed their way. It was best not to give away his borrowed features too easily. He didn’t want to be linked to other activities. Mina would be pissed if he blew a synth-mask that fast.
Clarissa didn’t look up as he slid into the seat across from her. She continued to flick through the menu projected on the halo in front of her. When she did finally raise her eyes, they were hard, and Dade realized that she’d pulled out a palm-sized phaser. She pointed it at him from across the table, low enough so that others might not see.
Dade hadn’t even seen her reach for it. Though admittedly, his focus had been on other guests and not her. He’d never considered her a threat.
“I don’t know who you are, but get up and leave this table at once.” Her eyes became slits, and her glossed mouth twisted into a dangerous snarl.
“It’s me, Clarissa.” He hadn’t put on a voice modulator, hoping that the cadence of his speech would be enough to convince her it was him. He couldn’t very well unmask himself. At least he knew his disguise worked.
“Dade?” She squinted with disbelief. “You’re alive?”
Then her face went blank before it hardened and became thunderous. “I should shoot you.”
“But you’re not going to.” He hoped.
Her mouth flattened, making her vowels stick when she whispered, “Trust me, I’m thinking about it.”
“Put away the phaser, Clarissa, please.” He laid his hands flat on the table. Tried to look nonthreatening. He knew she really didn’t see him as the enemy. She needed to process what she saw. He gave her time, though it killed him not to yell at her to get a grip.
They were in public, and he had to keep things as quiet as possible. Even now, those at the nearest table looked with curiosity. He didn’t think they could see Clarissa’s phaser from where she hid it with her hand and the table.
“How are you not dead?” she asked while sliding the phaser away. One minute it was there, and the next minute it was gone. If he hadn’t seen it and known Clarissa so well, he would have second-guessed that it had been there. It was a neat trick. He’d always been impressed by Clarissa, and she continued to surprise him.
“So?” she pressed.
Dade exhaled. He stretched his fingers out on the table. They were still tight at times after being nano-healed so fast. Then he pulled his hands close and leaned forward. “It’s a long story.”
“I’ve got the time.” She raised an eyebrow, her glossed lips pursing.
“Right.”
Up close, he could see what the makeup hid. There was a dark bruising around her eyes from lack of sleep. And her sparkle was gone, as if all the joy and fire had drained out of her. The business she’d been through had taken its toll. But when she looked at him, he could still see the core of steel she had at her center.
“How are you?” Dade asked, concerned. He worried now that he’d caused more of a mess than he’d originally thought.
“Stop deflecting. I had to deal with the fallout you left me.” Her words caught. Clarissa swallowed, letting the seconds pass. Then she looked straight at him and continued, her voice hard and sour. “I saw you fall off the skyway. You’d better tell me how you managed to not be dead, or I’ll gut you right here and make the news of your demise real.”
He said under his breath, “What’s with the women in my life threatening to kill me?”
Yet he understood her frustration, the anger that seeped through her words, and the hurt that underlay it all. He knew he should have gotten word to her. But the upheaval happened so fast that time had slipped by with frightening speed.
Dade didn’t lie as he told her about Mina’s rescue and about everything that had happened to him since he’d fallen off the skyway, including the disaster at the joint refinery. How injured they’d been. How he’d gone to work for Crispin to help Saben. How eventually Mina had come for her favor.
Clarissa listened with a serious expression on her face. She asked
a few questions here and there for clarification. But mostly she let him talk. And it felt good. Cathartic, as if he needed this release to feel centered again.
He left out Mina’s plan to break into the CRC. Telling anyone might put him, Arden, and Saben at risk. Plus, he’d thought a lot about the VitD recipe. If Clarissa knew that was the prize, she might manipulate the situation so that she’d somehow end up with it. And if he was going to risk his life, he wasn’t letting someone else take it. Not even a friend he was about to ask for a favor. Dade had enough people manipulating his life at the moment. He was determined not to give Clarissa a chance.
Dade finished his explanation with an apology. “I should have gotten you word. It’s just been intense. I’m sorry.”
Her eyebrow rose. “I also know what it feels like to lose track of time. I was grilled and kept prisoner for days.”
Swallowing, he forced himself to maintain eye contact with her. It was difficult. If not for him and his harebrained ideas, she wouldn’t have been interrogated. “Thanks for not outing me as the Ghost.” Clarissa could have easily given over whatever knowledge she had of his secrets in order to keep the govies far away from her own affairs. But she hadn’t.
“Why would I do that?” she asked. “We’re friends. I don’t betray friends.”
“Because you thought I was dead. What harm would it have done?”
“It would have shown them that I knew what you were up to and didn’t report you.” She shook her head. Then she stared at him intently. Her face softened. “I’m happy you’re alive.”
Dade nodded. Words didn’t seem to be enough to thank her. “How are your parents taking my death? Your inquiry?”
She rolled her eyes. “Well, they’re not happy. But seriously, they’re angrier at Nakomzer.”
The govie leader, Nakomzer, was a friend—or had been a friend—of his father’s. They’d worked together often. Though now he wondered if that was still true, considering Nakomzer had given the govies the okay to kill Dade.
“Because the govies shot me?” Dade asked.
“Yes, but your family isn’t doing anything to avenge you.” She raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you find that interesting?”
“Immensely.” Which was why he needed to get into the Sky Tower. Mina’s request for him to find a way in was only an excuse to make it happen. He had to figure out what had led to the call for his death. “Speaking of that, I need your help.”
“I knew there’d be a catch. You couldn’t suddenly rise from the dead and not need my help, right?”
Dade let her irritated comment go. “I need to get into Sky Tower Two.”
She sighed. “Of course you do. I suppose you’re aware they completely revamped their security protocol?”
“Yes. Does that mean you can’t get me in?”
Her smile was indulgent and crafty. “I can get you in. But then you owe me.”
Dade didn’t even hesitate. “Agreed.”
“And there’s one more thing.” She propped her elbows on the table and leaned in closer. “You’re playing a dangerous game.”
“I know.”
“No,” she said, drawing the word out long and hard, “I don’t think you do. Be careful of both Mina and Crispin—but perhaps, more especially Crispin. He works toward his own ends, as do we all, but unlike us, he has nothing to lose.”
“What do you mean?” Dade knew he couldn’t hide the surprise that slid over him. Clarissa knew who Crispin was?
Her eyes clouded. “It’s not my story to tell.”
Dade wondered at that. She didn’t often refuse to divulge information to him, but when she did, Clarissa was impossible to crack. If he was in danger, she’d tell. But this seemed like something else. As if telling him Crispin’s secrets would be a betrayal. It felt the same when she’d said that she had kept Dade’s secrets from the govies.
He found himself agreeing. “All right, let’s talk about pleasant things before I go.”
She smiled at him, the sensuous Clarissa smile he’d missed, and began to tell him about her day.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Arden was dressed for sin. Tonight they were heading to the Den, a club in Undercity. It sat three blocks and a subtrain stop away from any sort of neighborhood that would complain about the noise and drug use that spilled out into the streets.
Her dress shimmered, sending rainbows skittering over the floor. Inside the club with the strobes, it would glitter like a star. The fabric clung to her every curve. She’d never worn anything so soft.
She’d styled her hair loose, one side gathered up and pinned so the rest fell to her opposite shoulder. Along the clip that held her hair were faux flowers of the dilly plant made from tissue striated in orange, gold, and red.
A touch of blush, red lipstick, and dark mascara completed her look.
Excitement stirred in her, making her feel alive. She finally felt like herself after long weeks of recuperation, of being someone that she didn’t recognize. She was usually in charge, strong. And the hits that she’d taken had shaken her in a fundamental way.
Roan whistled when she came into the rec room. “Look at you, Sunshine.”
“Don’t call me that,” she growled, her satisfaction over her appearance falling away.
Dade stood up from the couch and walked over. He smiled at her as if she were the only person he saw. He looked edible dressed in club clothes: tight synth-leather pants and a thin tunic cut to show off his frame rather than to hide it. She had to stop herself from sighing out loud, swallowing against the need that rose inside her.
He moved in front of her. His hands came up to grip her hips as he leaned into her and brushed his lips against her cheek. He breathed her in, his nose against her temple. Then said softly, “You look beautiful.”
Her heart fluttered. “Thank you.”
She’d had to dress up for the club anyway. However, she might have put a little more thought into it than strictly necessary. She wanted to look amazing. She’d known Dade had gone to see Clarissa. He’d told them after he’d returned that Clarissa had agreed to help get them inside Sky Tower Two. The fact that Arden hadn’t been aware that meeting was happening had pissed her off. Underscored by Roan’s snotty smirk to her as if he could read her thoughts. That was when she’d determined to show Dade she was not to be forgotten.
It appeared to have worked, though perhaps a bit unexpectedly and in the completely opposite way. Her breath shuddered out of her. The point wasn’t to get in her own head.
Roan gagged, a loud retching sound that broke the moment. He rolled his eyes and muttered, “I don’t get it. He’s not that amazing.”
But he was.
Dade pulled away so that they faced each other, his hands still on her. They felt as if they branded her, linking her to this place and time. She wanted to kiss him. A real kiss, not just the brush of skin that barely put a dent in her desire.
Not here, though. She took a deep breath. Not where everyone could see and gawk. She wanted to run away with him and have things be like they should have been when they’d left their families. To have the freedom to indulge in all sorts of things she shouldn’t and to promise him things she couldn’t.
His hands slipped away, and he stepped to her side. Dade kept their connection, though, touching her back with the tips of his fingers.
Arden leaned into him.
The others were dressed up as well. Roan was suited similarly to Dade, only the fabric of his tunic had a translucent quality so that the dips of his muscles were visible. Arden kept herself from rolling her eyes, barely.
Annem had chosen red. The dress she wore was short and flirty, with a swing skirt and lots of skin on display. A pair of silver boots came up to midthigh.
Standing beside her, Coco was more sedate, wearing pants, boots, and a tunic, all in black. Her only deference to their going into a club was that the collar of the tunic had subtle embroidery decorating it.
Nastasia swept into the room. She
appeared softer tonight, of all of them looking the most unlike herself. Her hair was down, and she wore a peekaboo dress with sheer sleeves that billowed and gathered at the wrist. It made Nastasia look both sexy and formidable, not at all the coolly calculated girl who’d nursed Arden.
Seeing her reminded Arden that Mina’s crew members were dangerous, including, and maybe most especially, Nastasia. Mina had picked them for a reason. It was foolish of Arden to rely on first impressions. She knew better. This change into something different shouldn’t have surprised her.
Mina stood in the room watching them. She had turned over her duties to Nastasia for the night, so she wasn’t dressed to go out. She had been shifty on her reasons, but it was obvious she had something else to do. Arden was curious about what that something else was, but she couldn’t blatantly ask. And if she did, Mina wouldn’t tell her anyway. All Arden knew was that Mina was using Saben for some hush-hush op.
“Everyone, strap up,” Nastasia said, taking charge from the moment she stepped into the room.
Arden made her way over to the weapons wall. She studied the various phasers and charge sticks. Out of everything available, she’d only be able to conceal knives under her dress.
Coco snickered as she took a larger phaser off the wall and strapped it to her waist, pulling down her tunic for full coverage. “This is why you need to wear pants and a tunic.”
“Or wear boots,” Annem said. She took two small phasers and tucked them into her thigh boots, then looked at Arden. “I like the dress.”
“I like yours too,” Arden said. Not having phasers would be frustrating but not problematic. It just meant she had to be stealthier and get up close to take someone out if she needed to.
She selected a pair of blades off the wall. The knives had a wicked curve. The metal had been crafted so thin that it could have almost been see-through, with a sharp edge she knew wouldn’t take any pressure to carve into skin. It would require only the barest tip of her wrist.
The handles fit in her palms with a nice weight to them. Their tangs were made from bone that had been polished to a shine. They felt cool to the touch, but she knew they would warm when she used them.
The Stolen Sky (Split City Book 2) Page 10